Problems Arunachal Pradesh's fantastic rain forests are an obvious source of timber. And today, timber is one of the main reasons why these forests are under threat from the wood-based industries. A large number of industries, such as plywood and veneer mills, have sprouted up in the very recent past. The remote location means that monitoring and control by the forest department officials become increasingly difficult, and unregulated deforestation occurs.

Arunachal Himalayas is virgin territory. (Download Realplayer)

Arunachal Rain forests Credit: Karamjeet Singh

Another interesting fact is that today around 300 saw mills and veneer factories are located in the state. Timber is the essential raw material for these wood-based industries. On the other hand, the state government issues annual licenses for only 9000 cubic feet of timber -- sufficient for only one large saw mill. So the rising number of the saw mills and veneer factories pose all kinds of uncomfortable questions to the officials.

The traditional form of cultivation in the area is the shifting cultivation or the slash and burn cultivation. A stretch of forest land is burned and cleared for agricultural purposes. Intense cultivation follows until the land loses fertility, and then the farmers move on to clear another stretch of land. In the earlier days, the forests used to recover this land rather quickly, but this is no longer the case today.